Robert started in mud trucks around 1998 with coworkers in South Florida. Progressed through multiple vehicles: K10 Stepside on 38-inch Groundhogs, a Jimmy, and eventually a YJ and square-body GMC truck. Attended his first Ultimate Adventure in 2015 (the last pay-to-play year) and was accepted to subsequent trips. Discovered passion for genuine rock crawling rather than mud bogging.
Adventure Wheelers East
After feeling disconnected from the Florida Adventure Rigs group, Keller partnered with Jack Sloan to merge their communities into AWE – Adventure Wheelers East, combining adventure seekers from multiple off-road networks. The group runs annual week-long wheeling trips throughout the Southeast, attracting both media legends and newcomers. Keller emphasizes accessibility: “It might not be the hardest wheeling you’ve ever done, but it’s going to be fun.”
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:13.510] – Big Rich Klein
On this week’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I’m talking with a friend of about 4 or 5 years that was born in northeast Missouri, outside of the Hannibal area, but as a kid of about 6 years old, moved to Florida. And there he got into mud trucks and eventually got into more of the trail-type Jeeps after having a number of different types of trucks that he’s built. He’s still really a full-size guy. He has participated in at least 3 Ultimate Adventures and then decided to start his own group of adventures along with a guy named Jack Sloan, who is a past interview that I did out of West Virginia. And they started the AWE, the Adventure Wheelers East. My guest is Robert Keller. All right, Robert Keller, good to have you on the podcast. Um, looking forward to finding out more about you than just AWE. So, and anybody that’s wondering what AWE is, that’s Adventure Wheelers East. I met Robert on a trip back east, um, to go wheeling, and, uh, an interesting guy to say the least. So Robert, how you doing?
[00:02:36.820] – Robert Keller
Oh, not too bad, Rich. I’m, uh, well, I guess I’m glad to be on your podcast.
[00:02:41.560] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, this will be good. I’m, I’m looking forward to this. So let’s start at the beginning where I start with everyone. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:50.390] – Robert Keller
Well, I was born in Northeast Missouri, uh, just outside of Hannibal, Missouri, if you’re familiar with that. Oh yes, a lot of Mark Twain stuff based out of there. But I was only there until I was about 6 or 7 years old, and then we moved to South Florida in Palm Beach County, where I lived in Palm Beach County from the time I was in about the, uh, 4th or 5th grade all the way to graduating. And I was in that area until about 2005 and then moved to where I am now up in Central Florida.
[00:03:32.740] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And, uh, do you remember much from Northeast, uh, Missouri? I know Hannibal really well. We used to put on rock crawls there.
[00:03:41.780] – Robert Keller
Um, somewhat, believe it or not, because we used to go back quite often. Uh, my dad still has a farm there that he inherited from his dad, which would be my grandfather. And, uh, I’m still fairly familiar with it because there was Hannibal Rocks. This is probably where you’re talking about back in the day. Yep, yep. And I remember a little bit up there, and I go back occasionally. And of course I have cousins and everything up there I go and talk to, but Most of my address growing up would be Palm Beach County and then later Central Florida.
[00:04:13.260] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And, um, why did he— why did, why did the parents up and move from Missouri?
[00:04:20.930] – Robert Keller
Uh, farming got bad in the ’80s.
[00:04:22.880] – Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:04:24.300] – Robert Keller
So, uh, they ended up— my dad ended up quit farming. We actually had a small stint where we moved to Jefferson City for like a year. Okay. Which is the capital of Missouri there. And then we moved to Florida where him and another individual opened up a John Deere lawn and garden place in West Palm Beach. And that’s where we went because he got out of farming because the whole 1980s farming kind of went to bust there. Right. Before ethanol. Yes. And I believe interest rates were really high and everything else. I mean, I was obviously a little kid and don’t really remember all that, but That’s kind of the gist of why I understand why we got out. READ MORE
